Little to post.

   The plumber came out yesterday, he couldn't fix anything and created an extra leak so I'm without running water again. He's due back out tomorrow, I hope. The dogs due in the vets in a little while for blood tests and to see about an increase in his meds. Thats about it really.

  Hope you all have  great day, take care folks.

Mini heatwave.

   Well I was wrong about the weather, the mini heat wave has arrived. Its a heck of a jump from 16c, 60f, to 28c, 80+f, in less than 24 hours and today is due to be even hotter. Tomorrow the temps drop back down to the low 20's c and after that they drop even further. The swift rise in temps makes it hard to adjust to the heat and by the time I do adjust the temps will have dropped to more comfortable levels. The joys of the English weather.

  Got the house cleaned, including the stairs. Had to shut the water off again as the plumbing has gotten worse again but have managed to speak to the landlord and a plumber is due tomorrow.

  Only gotten a tiny bit more weaving done but I did manage a little spinning. I should be able to get back into weaving now the house is cleaned. I should think about a new knitting project as well soon.

  Hope you all had a great weekend, have a great day and take care folks.

Seed pods.

   The weather mans talking about a mini heatwave here this weekend, its sure not going to happen today. Rained long and hard all night and today is a very dull gray day, temps are 16c 60f. I can't see it getting much higher than that today and the talk of it going to 27c tomorrow, hmmm.

  My big tobacco plant does have seed pods, now I have to find out what to do with them to save the seeds. I really want the seeds off this plant as its been the biggest, fastest growing one and the slugs and snails have mainly left it alone. I think its genes will produce more great plants next year.

  I need to finish off the clothespin peg bag this weekend, also have to finish off tidying up. I still haven't hoovered the stairs. I'd like to do some spinning as well if I have time, I should really make the time as I feel in the mood for spinning. We'll see how it all goes.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

Short post.

   Not much to write really, still weaving the clothespin peg bag and still tidying up. I still need to hoover the stairs, theres a fun job I really really love. NOT. Cleaning cobwebs under the cupboards too is another fun job.

  I need to take a couple of pictures of my large tobacco plant to show a tobacco growing friend, I think its gotten its first seed pod but I'm not 100% sure. If it has started podding I think I can start harvesting the leaves as they turn yellow, I really need to looking into it more.

  Short post today, hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Peg bag almost done.

  Almost finished the bottom front part of the clothespin peg bag, have to remember to hem stitch the top part while its still on the loom. I've already stitched the bottom, on the back piece of the bag I forgot to hem stitch it while it was still on the loom. I figure I should be able to get the bottom front piece finished and off the loom today, in between brewing some bitter and tidying the house.

  The winds blown over another 3 tomato plants, they will survive but in a diminished state. I think I've lost about half my tomato crop this year due to winds, its like its been November all year with these winds almost blowing gales all year round. The tobacco is still doing well but it looks like I'll have to remove the poly tunnel as there is very little room left in there for them, I hope they can survive the winds outside.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Still weaving

   Still working on the front bottom piece of the clothespin peg bag, only managed a couple of rows yesterday. I'm hoping I can finish the bottom piece today then warp the loom for the top front piece, that will only take about 3.5 to 4 inches of weaving so should go quickly. I need to start thinking about joining the pieces and button holes. I wasn't too happy with the looped button hole on the last piece but that was probably more down to me and not being able to do it tidily. I might knit small Icords and use those as loops.

  To join the front and back of the clothespin peg bag I've been thinking of weaving a thin inkle band and using that inbetween the two pieces, more sewing and weaving for me but I think it will not only look better but function better as well. I'd need to finish weaving the dog collar I have on the inkle loom first though. It never seems to end.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Back piece is woven.

   The back piece of the clothespin peg bag is finished and off the loom, at the moment I'm weaving the front bottom piece and have gotten about 3 inches done. I think another inch and a half to two inches and it will be done. The over all piece is 9.5 inches long. The back piece is a little messy colour wise but the front is looking ok even though I'm trying to match the colour changes. All part of the learning process.

  My landlord is still on holiday so the plumbing jobs are off the table until next week, oh well at least I have running water now. I might take another crack at fixing the problems myself, apart from the cock stop. I really don't want to mess that job up. Of course having the landlord/plumber come over to do some work means I have to tidy up odd places in the house like under the shelf where the stop cock is. Oh what fun.

  Not much else is really going on here, no tomatoes on my plants yet but there flowering. I think the potatoes are done for this year due to the slugs and snail. My tobacco plants are doing pretty well, the big one is still head and shoulders above the rest, its almost 4 feet tall now and with giant leaves. As long as I get a crop of tobacco I'll be happy with my gardening for this year.

  Hope you all had a good weekend, have a great day and take care folks.

Back to my weaving.

   The plumbing didn't go as well as I expected, I've gotten half the job done and have running water but will need the landlords help finishing off. 
   Now I can get back to my weaving and try and make a dent in it this weekend. I should easily be able to finish the back part of the clothespin peg bag and make a start on the front parts. I hadn't thought too much about colour, keeping it close to greens and blues though and I've decided to try and match the rows front and back. Common sense really but it only crossed my mind the other day.

   I've bought two books on braiding, finger weaving, Indian braiding, which is flat braiding and braiding and knots, which is flat and solid braiding. There both very interesting and will help me put nice finishes on my inkle bands and help me learn back strap weaving as well. I'll dive into the subject once this clothespin peg bag is finished.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

More plumbing.

   The taps and basin wrench have just arrived so I will change the upstairs sink taps today, after this cup of coffee. I'm not sure if I'll change the downstairs hot water tap as well, its no longer leaking since I changed the washer and you can't really tell its slightly different from the cold water tap. The cock stop, main valve to turn off all the water inside the house, isn't working to great either. Its not fully stopping the water and its leaking slightly. I'll leave this job to the landlord though, I don't fancy screwing up and flooding the whole house.

  Very little done fiber wise, my minds been else where. I have done a couple of rows on the back piece of the clothespin peg bag and hope to get it finished over the weekend.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Plumbing

   The upstairs bathroom sink tap has given up the ghost and is pouring water while turned off, the more you turn it off the worse it gets. I've turned the mains water off and will tackle the plumbing jobs today. The downstairs kitchen tap should only take me a few mins to put a new washer in, as long as the washer seat doesn't need regrinding flat. I don't have the tool to do that.

  The upstairs sink tap might give me a few problems. I'm really hoping its a 5 min job, change the washer and thats it but I have a feeling the whole taps done for. I have a spare kitchen tap that I think would work in its place but first I'd need to get the old tap off and some idiot has painted the pipes and nuts.

  ETA.

  Changed the washer on the downstairs tap, very easy and quick to do. I'm not sure if its working yet as I've not switched the mains back on but the seating felt smooth so should be ok.
   The upstairs tap is a riser spindle type, I've undone the head screw at the side(the only screw there is) but can't get the handle off. Spayed WD40 around and am now waiting for it to kick in. Second problem for the upstairs tap is I don't have any vise grips and my adjustable spanners doesn't expand enough to undo the body so I might have to take the whole tap off and replace it. Sprayed more WD40 on the painted(IDIOTS) nuts and pipe work. Tried to use a G clamp and towel as vise grip but didn't work, slipping too much.

  Undid the painted nut, not too hard but was awkward to get at. It was the wrong nut to undo at this point though, I needed to undo the top nut just under the tap but didn't see it. Put some more WD40 on, why is any plumbing always confined to tiny tight hard to reach places???

   Running out of ideas, I can't get the spanner on the tap locking nut to undo it. Just done a quick search and there are wrenches just for undoing nuts on basins.

  Bought the adjustable basin wrench and two taps, now I can replace both the bathroom taps and I will also replace the hot water kitchen tap so that it matches the cold water tap which I put in last year. I didn't do the hot water last time because to get at it I'd of had to remove a cupboard and the washing machine. Now I need to block the upstairs tap to stop it leaking until I get the new taps and wrench.

  Uh oh, the upstairs tap is no longer a tap and the water is just rushing out of it. Looks like I will be living with out the convenience of running water for a few days. I hope that basin wrench gets here asap.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

No fits.

    The dogs not had another fit since Sunday 4.30pm so with luck I'll get to sleep in my own bed tonight instead of on the dreaded couch. I've already lowered the dogs meds but not as low as they were. I'm giving him the original 45mg in the mornings and 60mg at night, not sure if the mixed sizes work but I can't cut the tablets into equal amounts. For his weight he should be able to take 100mg twice daily but these meds can be hard on the liver so I prefer to give the lowest amount possible. He's due blood tests this month so I will see how his liver is and what the vet says, it might be best to go with 60mg twice a day.

   I've not gotten much done, a tiny bit of weaving on the clothespin peg bag. I'm hoping I can get the front of the bag finished tomorrow, can't get much done on it today as I'm busy. I did sew the hem on the bottom part while its still on the loom with invisible thread, I hate invisible thread its a royal pita to use.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Dogs fitting again.

   My dog started having fits again on Saturday, he had 3 on Saturday and two yesterday. The seizures where pretty short and the first 3 his recovery time was good, his recovery times on Sunday weren't so good and he was very clingy and restless most of the day. Being stuck in doors most of the day didn't help, rained hard and must of put down several inches. 
  He seemed very bright and alert this morning but while walking him he became a bit skittish sniffing around and jumpy so i don't think the fits are over yet. I've increased his meds from 45mg to 60mg but I think they will take a while to feed through his system.

  I've made a start on the clothespin peg bag but haven't really gotten a lot done. Its hard to work while worrying about the dog, plus I've been sleeping on the couch the last two nights so that the dog sleeps downstairs. I've weaved about 3 inches so far on the back piece of the bag in a mish mash of blues and greens. No idea how its going to turn out colour wise but should be interesting.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Weekend weaving.

   My order for 500g of white cotton arrived this morning along with another book I found on ebay. I haven't had a chance to look the book over yet but its by Nina Holland and its just about inkle weaving. I have her other book on inkle, backstrap and frame looms and really liked it so think this one on just inkle looms should be great.

  I need to mow and trim the front garden, grass and trees, but after that I will set up the loom to weave another clothespin peg bag for my mom. I've no idea on what colours to use as I don't have all that much cotton left, I'm bidding on more but that will be next week and I don't want to wait. I could take apart the original peg bag to re use the weft but I want to save that so I don't make the same mistakes ever again. All part of the learning process.

  I've decided to weave the new clothespin peg bag in three pieces, one back piece and two front pieces. This way will give me more chances to work on my hems and I think will produce a nicer result. The loom isn't made for winding cloth or yarn, it can be done but it means taking most of the loom apart which can't be good for the tension.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

Start again.

   Big hic up with the clothespin peg bag. I'd almost finished sewing it all up with the buttons on when I noticed some of the bag was coming apart. I had used invisible thread to sew the hem but I don't know much about sewing hems so hadn't really secured the warp threads. Everything I've done in the past has had a fringe so you just tie knots to secure, job done.

  Next time I weave something with a hem I'll do a hem stitch while the works still on the loom, I had to look in one of my books and found a hem stitch. Which should be soon because I have to start again. The bag hasn't fallen apart its just that the weft is all loose near the hand hole due to the warp coming loose. The actual hem part holding the weft has stayed in place.

  Lessons learned, theres something called a hem stitch, don't cut the fringe so close to the knots and don't try to finish something at the last min.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Almost finished.

   Almost finished the clothespin peg bag, less than an inch and its all done. Well it will need sewing and buttons. I've decided to do loops for the button holes seeing as I lost the original idea on what I was supposed to be doing. As long a I don't run into any unforeseen problems I should get it finished today.

  I'll leave the post here for now and get on with the bag, I might update the blog later when I have finished. Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Rushing along.

   I need to get a rush on with weaving the clothespin peg bag. I got very little done yesterday but did manage to move the piece along the loom so that I have extra space to weave and make the front longer, the loom I'm using isn't really designed for this though. I had to take the sides off and everything sort of fell apart from there but I did manage to get it all back together with no harm done. I'm not going to do that again though.

  I've sort of lost focus on the design as well and am now unsure about the button holes, I'll have a better idea once the front is finished but it might be a little late to sort out by then. I hate rushing but it has to be done by the 9th. I figure another 4 to 5 inches and the front will be done, the back will only be about 4 inches long so should go quickly. I hope.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Started the 2nd peg bag.

   I've made a good start on my moms clothespin peg bag, I weaved about 9 inches of the front of the bag yesterday. I'm not sure how much I can do today but I will try and get at least a two inches more finished. Hope I can do more but don't think I will have the time today.

  The bag is being woven with cotton yarns, I was going to do it all in one colour but am worried I might run out of yarn so have added another colour. I started the weft with a single strand then a double strand of the same colour then to change over colours I doubled stranded the weft in two colours before moving back to a single strand of the second colour only.

  Thats all for today, busy, busy, busy. Hope you all had a good weekend. Have a great day and take care folks.

A windy year.

    Its still pretty warm today but the winds picked up a fair amount. It seems to have been an unusually windy year so far, we've certainly had gales much later in the year than whats normal. I've lost another tomato plant today due to the wind, it might survive minus a couple of branches. This is the forth tomato plant the wind has blown over so far this year though only one had fully died. I'm glad I have the poly tunnel to help protect my plants even if I worry all the time about it blowing away.

  The clothespin peg bag I'm weaving at the moment is almost finished, less than a cm and its done. I need to take some measurements to see if my idea for a two piece bag will work, I'm not sure I can wind on yarn/cloth with this loom I'm using. If this idea doesn't work out I might break it down into three pieces, one back piece and two front pieces. I'll let you know on Monday. Once I've finished the clothespin peg bag for my moms birthday I'll experiment with the loom to see how easy it would be to wind yarn and cloth.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

Pretty warm today.

     Its pretty warm here today, it might even break 80 f. The house is still pretty cool, being brick it takes a while to heat up but then it becomes oppressive during the nights. Luckily these warm temps will only last today then it will cool down again.

  I've not finished the clothespin peg bag yet, another two inches and it will be done. The shape seems to be working out, or misshape seems to be working out. I'll sew the bag together with the slit running vertical and make another one for myself after I've made one for my mom. I need to get some more cotton yarns.

   I'm going to weave my moms clothespin peg bag in two pieces without a slit in the weaving, the slit will be made when I sew the pieces together. It will be a lot tidier and with not split it should weave up very quickly. I've already ordered some buttons, a mixture of blues in different sizes. I hope at least some of them match each other.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Misshapen

   I've nearly finished weaving the back of the clothespin peg bag. I'd of finished it by now but have been busy the last couple of days with other stuff. I think I've managed to misshape the back piece to match the front piece but have realised the overall shape is way wrong unless I stitch it together so that the slit runs vertical and not horizontal. It will look ok that way whereas if I had the slit run horizontal the bag would look like a triangle on its side. Half kidding, its not that bad.

  I'll be making another clothespin peg bag a soon as this one is finished for my moms birthday next week. Not a great gift I'll admit but it will be hand made and useful. I'm not sure if I'll try and weave the bag the same way or try the other way, I think I'll have a go at weaving it the other way and see how it turns out.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

ETA. The dogs fine, he has to go back next month for blood work.